Hide and Seek
by Myrnia
Summary: Leo is a turtle spirit who has been living happily alongside the royal Hamato family when he wakes up one morning to find them all gone. He has a feeling that the 3 princes are out there somewhere, in the 4 kingdoms but he only has until the next heiress Karai comes of age to find them. Although first, he kind of needs to solve the problem of being an invisible being. Poor Leo. AU.
1. Let's Start at the Beginning: 1

Inspired by:

Kame by Was-Mokie

The Servant by 1234BlueLagoon

Please go check them out, their stories are wonderful and I can assure you, they are at a very high quality!

* * *

Tang Shen couldn't have been happier if Kami herself came to Earth and granted her everything she ever wanted in that moment. Indeed, she already had everything. It all began when a small, infant turtle spirit appeared months ago in the Royal Gardens of the palace.

He was an adorable little thing, wide-eyed and starstruck by every aspect of human life. She was completely freaked out at first, inching in slowly, being prepared to sprint away from an evil yokai, and eventually hesitantly trying to shake him awake.

She had backup plans for anything from it having acidic skin and attacking aggressive to a huge mother spirit popping out of nowhere ready to kill her for touching it's child.

When it only snuggled into her hand and clutched onto his new heater, her heart completely melted and she didn't even bother trying to resist her motherly instincts that awoke inside.

The poor thing had ice-cold skin and was shivering, despite basking in the sun during what was probably the hottest days of the years. He had no memories, no name and no guardians to take care of him. He was alone and might have even been left to die out there.

'Unacceptable,' Tang Shen remembered thinking, sending a meaningful glance with an obvious message behind it to a paling Hamato Yoshi.

Her husband might have been Emperor of the continent but she was going to be the future Queen of the Winter Kingdom for a reason. It was only her marriage and one of the very strict laws set out by the First Emperor that prevented her from it. That law stated that no-one could ever hold the title of Emperor or Empress and the title of King or Queen at the same time, nor may anyone be King or Queen of multiple Kingdoms at the same time. Of course, her kingdom couldn't run without a monarch so the title was passed to her closest (but very distant) cousin, Lady (now Queen) Miwa and will one day pass again.

Still, she was trained from the moment of birth to be a strong, assertive leader and the lessons never faded, even if she mellowed out a little from a fierce warrior to a calm flower (well, she liked to think so anyway). Little cracks of her previous self would shine through every now and again and it just so happened that a single glare could cow her husband Hamato Yoshi into following her wishes.

She pretended not to hear the muttered, "We already have Splinter, are we going to adopt everyone we come across?" for his sake.

A month later brought no news. No new memories came, the member of a spiritual clan she invited to the palace was no help and the turtle spirit seemed convinced that he was here to stay.

Honestly, when she and Yoshi heard him call them Mother and Father for the first time, the entire palace had already accepted him as a permanent member of the family. That was a big deal, seeing as how only the Knights, who used ninjutsu and were thus aware of their spiritual energy were able to even see him as a ghostly figure.

The servants could hear him though, when he was loud enough, and the fact they adjusted so quickly as a testament to his charisma.

It was painful at times, to see him learn and grow up at an accelerated pace. It reminded both her and Yoshi of her miscarriage she had a year prior, a dead child who would never get to play or learn or have them watch him or her grow up.

Having the young spirit here was like ripping open the wound again. They had only just successfully tried for another when he appeared.

He would sometimes notices their winces and pained whimpers at times and he would always smile at them and do something sweet later that evening, like bugging the chefs to make their favourite desserts or making a card with "I love you!" scrawled on the front.

They had two names in mind for their previous child. A female would have been called Miwa, after her cousin. A male would have been called Leonardo.

When it came time to pick a name for the turtle, no one was particularly surprised at their choice.

* * *

"Mother!" Leo yelled, running down the hall. The servants had long gotten used to hearing his voice as they wandered the halls.

It has been nearly 9 months since his sudden appearance in the Royal gardens and even the most frightened and paranoid eventually warmed up to the newest addition to the Hamato Palace. In fact, being around and interacting with a spirit must have unlocked their spiritual energy or something like that, they theorized, because everyone remembered clearly the freak out that one of the servants who spent a lot of time around him had when he was finally able to see him.

One of the servants stopped him during his excited run. "His and her majesty are in the other way, in the dining hall, Prince." Nobody really knew how to address him ever since Queen Tang Shen dragged him alongside King Hamato Yoshi and the Commander of the Royal Knights Hamato Splinter into the castle after her evening stroll through the palace gardens.

It was made quite obvious soon enough that he was part of the family and thus jokily nicknamed Prince by one of the knights. It spread quickly and it became his new unofficial title.

Leo smiled appreciatively, stumbling over a quick "Thank you," (courtesy of Tang Shen's hammering of manners into him) and immediately dashed in the opposite direction. It did not take long for him to reach his destination, slamming the doors open and panting heavily.

Spotting his target, he exclaimed and ran towards her. He wrapped his arms gently around her growing waist, muffling a "Morning, mother, father," into her maternity dress. A large hand plopped down on his head to ruffle his messy bed-hair and dual "Good morning"s were echoed.

"Come on, little Leo. I promised to show you how awesome I am with some ninjutsu today, didn't I? You need to finish breakfast first," Yoshi reminded, sporting a goofy look and faux flexing.

Then, he dramatically leaned in to loudly whisper, "I bet we could even get the Royal Knight Captains to show off! I hear they probably have some big ego hidden under all that stiffness!".

One of said Captains, the Knight of Metal, happened to be outside the room and coughed once loudly, exclaiming flatly, "Commander, I believe that His Majesty could do with a bit of increased security. Why, I believe the very restricting platoon who already protect him and watch his every move like a hawk could do with help, don't you agree? All in the name of protection, of course."

Yoshi went still and seemingly into shock at the karma and betrayal before he bounded into action, sprinting towards the door. "Hey, Captain, I love your enthusiasm but I really, really don't think that'll be necessary..." Leo tried to stifle his laughter the whole time but gave up the moment scooped up by his Mother and placed on her lap.

"I love my husband, I really do but sometimes," Tang Shen sighed, amusement in her eyes betraying her calm posture and relaxed muscles before being replaced by faux annoyance, "I swear I'll beat him into the ground one day for never sitting still enough to finish breakfast before running off."

Leo had fell in love with the Hamato family in the very first day and it was times like this that he never wanted to go away. One day, he was going to have a little sibling and his family was going to get bigger! He never stopped smiling throughout breakfast, even while Mother started lecturing about various political members and important people.

"The Queen of the Winter Kingdom has been engaged to a minor lord in her kingdom, her marriage will be a very big and important event for the whole continent.

An important group you should remember in the Winter Kingdom are the De Milo clan. Do you remember my friend, Chung the First, who came to help you a few months ago? He was part of that clan, who are small, mysterious group of spiritual wanderers. If you ever need help, you should try to find one of their members."

Leo diligently took mental notes of the lesson, storing them carefully in the back of his mind along with various notes that Father threw in once he returned. He loved to surprise his tutor with information he wasn't taught, it made him smile to be praised with a nice 'Good job' by the slightly awkward man.

* * *

Leo scoured the area, looking for his (unofficial) tutor. Eventually, he spotted his target in the sea of Royal Knights are made a beeline for him.

"Good afternoon, sensei!" he said brightly. "That was certainly quick," the commander replied as he dismounted his horse without nothing more than mild surprise.

A captain, the Knight of Fire, was next to them as he complained loudly. "I swear, that kid is attached to you by a magnet or something man! We just came back from a week long scout around the borders and look who's right here to greet us. This brat," he huffed, ruffling his hair affectionately, to which Leo stuck his tongue out at.

"What? No chirped greeting like 'Welcome back, oh great Master of Fire!'?" he exclaimed, clutching his chest and slumped to the ground, holding the back of his hand to his forehead and sighing loudly. Leo kicked him in the leg. "I'm hurt, little Prince. How could my cute little prince have grown up to become so cruel?!" he cried to the heavens, kneeling and lifting both arms to look for an answer. He got another kick.

"I could throw you off a mountain and you would still be in tip-top shape to dance around like a ballerina like you always do," Leo stated flatly. "Now, now. Is that anyway to speak to your elders?" the knight chided, poking him in the forehead. "Anyway, don't you think I'm overdue for a welcome-back hug?" Leo obliged for a few seconds, whispering a quick, "I missed you," in a low voice before immediately destroying the mood.

"So, does that mean you admit you're old?" he asked cheekily, dodging a half-hearted swipe. "Brat, I'm only 20. Heck, commander is older than me, you know? Hey, how come he's the one getting all the respect anyway?" he pouted. Splinter, who was simply content to stand back and watch the duo's shenanigans finally felt the Kneed to step in.

"Prince, we will not be having our usual tutoring today, but I did believe His Majesty organized a ninjutsu demonstration today, did he not? Would be mind some... Volunteers?" he asked with a glint in his eyes.

The knight paled when he saw his commander turn his attention to him. "Y-you know, I think I might be up for another missi-" "No, the mission list was cleared today by me," Splinter interrupted, clearly enjoying this far more than he first thought.

"Well then," the knight turned to Leo with a deadly serious expression on his face, "I'm going to say this out straight. If you explode, I'm not taking any responsibility."

* * *

Kami = God

Sensei = Teacher

AN: Heh, how is it so far? Bad? Good? Not too shabby for a first try? Everyone gets one guess as to who started the Prince nickname. Free internet cookies for the right answer!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for any misspellings or errors, I'm having a bit of a problem with the formatting.

I haven't watched anything since the end of the 2k3 version so I don't remember anyone's personality as clearly as I would like. Think of this fic as a sort of mash-up AU with a couple 2k12 references thrown in here and there, if you will, from a beginning author that's doing this as a test-hobby.

I will be using mainly 2k3 characters though, a lot of very obscure ones too though. And I mean characters that probably don't have much personality outside of default 'good', like Tang Shen or 'evil'. I will be creating new personalities that I hope will have a little bit of depth for most, if not all characters.

No OCs at all to be found here (besides Queen Miwa, just to make the story work out, I promise she'll never be mentioned again), only characters (or at least, will grow up into future characters) from the shows. If ANYONE at all figures out who the Fire Knight will turn out to be, you just figured out a huge chunk of plot and also big congratulations from me.

If you decide to review it will help a lot with motivation to finish what I plan to be a very long story.  
One more chapter and then the plot will start rolling!


	2. Let's Start at the Beginning: 2

Leo never did end up getting his ninjutsu demonstration when interruption after interruption kept popping up.

It started back when he went to greet his sensei and the other knights the day it was promised.

The journey back to the palace from the stables was a quick journey filled with lively chatter and made for quite a showy party of people.

The fire knight's attempts to 'wander off' were in vain as attention was constantly brought back to him coincidentally while he was scheming. ("Wha-? Me? I just saw an interesting bird over there… Don't you have any faith in me commander?")

Splinter smiled kindly at Leo once they reached their destination. "Why don't we go and retrieve their Majesties? The others can wait in the courtyard."

The knights marched off obediently as the duo split off but they didn't get very far because a servant rushed up to them, out of breath and red-faced.

"Her majesty is... giving birth...!"

* * *

Now that Leo was paying attention to it as he was being guided to his Mother's location, he could see how the palace was in disarray and on high alert with frazzled people running about left and right carrying various things from bowls of hot water to blankets and rags galore.

When he reached the epicenter of all the chaos, he was firmly told to stay outside by his sensei and not to enter. He felt an itch inside, pulling him towards the room but he fought it, convincing himself that he would just mess something up anyway.

A tired, clearly stressed maid approached him, perhaps instructed by Father to distract him from the sudden mess. She tried to lead him away many times to various places but he always ended up returning to the outside of the room like he was magnetized.

She gave up soon enough after the 14th try, simply bringing him things like a glass of warm milk to calm him down and stayed there with him to keep him company. In the times she was asked to run a quick errand like to retrieve this or that, he could feel the urge to crash into the room again, getting overwhelmed with images of the color of red or sharp metal and foreign emotions of familiarity, longing and anticipation.

He ended up staying out there for nearly a day and a half, sleeping in a nest of blankets and pillows he built for himself with some help from the maid.

The feelings of anticipation were metaphorically killing him, he tried to suppress the growing need to go, go, GO! but in the final hours he could take it anyway and shoved his way into the room.

The first thing he was greeted with was a high pitched crying. Inside was an exhausted Shen who lay on a bed covered in sweat and looking like she was half asleep. Yoshi was clutching what seemed to be a broken hand while sensei was fiddling with a roll of bandages. He wisely decided to ignore all of the blood and made a mental note to dump a bucket of brain bleach onto his head the first chance he got.

His wailing brother, future Emperor and ruler of 4 kingdoms he sang gleefully in his head as he was being filled with pride, was in the hands of the palace doctor who turned around in surprise of an unexpected guest while his brother was being cleaned.

"Leonardo," Father frowned, "I thought I told you not to come in here." He ashamedly scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. Full names never meant anything good.

A weak, hoarse voice called from the bed. "Leo baby, is that you?" He flinched at the exhaustion in the words, ignoring the strange pet name and quickly made his way to the bed, holding one of her hands.

"Will you be alright, Mother?" he asked worriedly. There was no way a human could lose so much blood and still live, right?

She tried to chuckle, key word: tried. "I'll be okay, Leo. I'll be okay."

The doctor made his way over, holding a hand on his translucent shoulder. "She's right, little Prince. Make sure to be nice later and let her sleep, okay?"

"Here, my lady," he said, gently placing a crying, sniffling but definitely calmed down baby wrapped in a red cloth into her arms. Leo wanted to reach out and poke the weird thing but quickly retracted his arm. Bad idea, very bad idea Leo.

He couldn't even interact with living things anyway, it would be pointless to try touch the baby. Food or plates? Sure! Could he feel the carpet under his feet? Yep. He could even hug people because of armour and clothes. High five someone though? Absolutely not. The best people could do was hover a hand over where his was. Father wore gloves just to be able to touch him.

"Yoshi, come look at what we made. Isn't Raphael beautiful?" she smiled, dark rings clear under her eyes. It was passed to him and then to sensei. They must noticed his dejected look because sensei held the baby out with 2 more pairs of expectant eyes matching his.

Normally, Leo didn't panic a lot but when he did, it was always very entertaining for the viewer because he had a tendency to babble. "Wha-what if I drop him? There's only a thin cloth around him! Or what if I squish him? Or I have some sort of yokai powers that awaken and I kill hi-"

Raphael was promptly shoved into his arms. It did not help.

"Ahhhhh! Sensei, what do I do, what do I do? This is how you held him right? Mother, you take him!" he eventually spit out, clutching tightly onto him and trying to do nearly all but throwing it back to his mother with a burning red face. Stupid me emulating humans, he thought.

It was then that he realized that both the mother and her baby had managed to fall asleep during the commotion.

"O-oh...Sorry mother.." he whispered quietly.

It took a little coaxing from Father to realize he was still holding onto the baby Raphael and a little more to surrender it to the doctor gently pushing the out the door.

"Her majesty needs all of the rest she can get. Try not to come in until she wakes up again."

Nothing strange there, but it was the next line he overheard Father casually say that froze his (nonexistent) blood.

"Thank you, Doctor Bishop. Be sure to inform me on any new updates once I return."

Something about the name Bishop made him want to leap back in there, wrench his brother away and escape.

Taking the more logical route, he thanked the Doctor too and exited the room.

Now came the second problem. The "once I return" thing sounded far too final and like Father was intending to march off to war. The fact that the knight captain of Water was waiting for them outside wasn't helping at all.

"Father?" he asked, turning a questioning gaze to him.

"I'm sorry, Leo. I've been called out to the Winter Kingdom. Make sure to look after your mother and brother while I'm out," was all he said before he headed out the hallway.

What?!

"Prince," another voice called, bringing his attention to the knight left behind.

"They are having a few problems at the moment," They are on the brink of a civil war, "And they need His Majesty to guide them," They need Father to try calm things down, "But don't you worry your cute little head about it because I'll make sure nothing happens," And he is going to double as a part ambassador and a bodyguard, "I'll bring you back a gift," so don't panic.

That's what Leo got, trying to translate his diplomatic speech to regular people talk.

It was hard work and it won't stop his panicking but he appreciated the effort so he put on a smile and a quick "Be careful" before the knight teleported away in a flash of water.

Showoff.

No, he wasn't smiling stupidly at the show. What are you talking about?

* * *

Fortunately, the Emperor was able to stop the snowballing disaster from destabilizing the whole Winter Kingdom, but it escalated far enough that almost an entire clan of nomadic people were killed off and the rest dispersed and went into hiding.

It took a whole year to solve, and by the end of it, many had died and Queen Miwa had an emergency marriage to a minor noble Lord Oroku Saki and had Princess Karai to ensure an heiress to the kingdom.

It was rushed, tiring and stressful, leading to a rapidly working illness that took course over 3 years.

During that time, Prince Donatello was born, joining the growing family.

Eventually, Empress Shen came to expect a third child Michelangelo, but Queen Miwa's sudden death interrupted near the end.

With the heiress too young to rule and no other candidate to rule in her place, Shen has to take over temporarily for the next 14 years even as she is expecting birth at any day.

Which leads us to now, the day she was supposed to leave for the Winter Kingdom.

* * *

Omake: Raphie's First Word

"Come on, Raph. Say Leo. Le-o. Leeeee-ooooohhh."

Leo was in the Royal nursery, sitting cross-legged from a very grumpy brother.

"Lee-oh. Come on Raaphie, Le-o."

He seemed to get into an even more ill-mood every time he said Raphie. Strange. Eh.

"How about bro? Bro works. Come on, broooo. It's really easy!"

Leo was frowning and very frustrated. He was going to have to do this to his other future sibling too?

"Lee-o"

Raph was feeling glee by siphoning off of his bad emotions, he swore.

"Lee-oh. Broo. Erhm, what about…. ninjutsu? Knights? Ninja?"

He could feel a disapproving glare drilling holes into his head, it was practically thick and strong enough to use as a whip.

"How about Raphie the cutie!"

He gave up to dive in and pull on the kid's cheeks. He ignored the deepening glare aiming to kill him.

A knock came at the door.

"Prince! It's time for dinner."

"Okay!"

He scooped up his baby brother to head to the dining hall.

"Pri-n-chee!"

Leo was about to respond with "What?" until he realized it was a high-pitched voice that said it and not a low adult voice.

"..."

Raph just stared at Leo expectantly, waiting and wondering if he broke his brother.

"Pri?"

Leo was completely still and slack-jawed.

"..."

He suddenly whooped with glee and started swinging his brother around, getting strange stares from servants passing by.

Leo did eventually let his brother down, much to the green-faced regretful Raph's joy, but he never stopped smiling and and giggling like he was soaring high on a kite.

Raph didn't forget this incident and didn't want to be held by his older brother for weeks.

* * *

AN: My apologies for not writing more but I really wanted the beginning chapters to be separate from when the plot really starts to kick in.

When I wrote the omake, I intended it to be in the chapter somewhere but I couldn't incorporate it anywhere without breaking the flow so I thought I tack it on to the end and hope for the best. It may or may not also serve as part of the apology for the drastically shorter chapter than I expected ^_^'.

What did you think of it? Did I make any mistakes? Should I do more? If you have any ideas for more omakes, I'd love to hear them!

Thank you for reading!


	3. Moving Forward: 1

_Flashes of red._

 _"Com….. on….. Can't sta….long….. Da….it Leo stay wi…. me"_

Leo jerked up awake. It was the same type of dream he had been having for years now. About a year ago, a new one had emerged in the forms of purple, grey and green.

Shaking his head, he moved to stand up, groggily wiping at his eyes.

 _(Something wrong, very, very wrong.)_

He felt unusually drained, he absentmindedly noticed as he hauled his feet to his bedroom door.

 _(Where are the guards, what's going on?)_

Considering he was a transparent ghost that was mostly unharmable, the guards were just a ceremonial thing anyway, he assured his paranoid mind. He calmly yawned before trudging towards the dining hall.

It wasn't until he bumped into an unconscious figure slumped in a hallway that an emotion other than not-really-caring could push through his foggy mind, bringing with it a lot of his consious mind.

"... Mr. Servant? Are you alright? Hello? Wakey-wakey, can't you feel the shakey?"

If it weren't for the fact that someone was passed out an possibly dead, Leo would have heard a distant memory in the background.

 _("Seriously Leo? It literally hurts to see you try, sometimes.")_

Being that interaction with living stuff was impossible, there was no way to check heartbeat so Leo was forced to rely on the residual warmth on his clothes as a 'Good enough' sign and had to move on. The other… bodies (he refused to call them corpses) down the hallways were not a good sign.

Neither were the bodies lying face-flat in flour, soup and other such items in the kitchens.

His next instinct was the Royal Chambers, which filled his non-existent heart with dread. (Possibly) Sleeping guards didn't help the ice-cold fingers wrapping around him and he felt like fainting the moment he stepped inside. He honestly didn't know if it was from the exhaustion that was creeping up on him the entire journey or the sight that met him.

Completely still and silent, like the rest of the castle, it seemed peaceful. A closer look showed a broken glass window, various scrape, cut and burn marks and bloodied sheets.

The implications were not completely filtering into his blurred mind, only a numb "what?" was available.

His next thought came loud and clear, pushing the old scene behind him.

 _What about the nursery?_

He ran and ran, burning away everything to reach his brothers because what if-

 _No. No time for that._

Pushing past that, he slammed open the colorful door decorated with smudged drawings manufactured by his beloved kids.

Everything seemed in place, every crayon and thrown pillow.

It was missing two very, very important people. The babies who brought life to the bright room.

Raphael and Donatello, the sweet, _sweet_ babies that didn't deserve anything that happened to them.

 _Someone stole them away._

A soft breeze brought his attention to the windows.

 _(Again with the window?)_

They were swinging far too strongly for it to be the gentle breeze. He sprinted towards it, looking for signs of his current most hated person.

A shadow popped behind him, but it was too late.

By the time he leaped around, a metallic ' _shing_ ' was heard and a glinting three-clawed blade was brought down on his head.

Leo should have passed out but he held on for a few more crucial seconds, trying to catch a glimpse of the perpetrator, a menacing armored man with only glowing red eyes visible through his helmet. A shadow stood behind him, holding the precious children that he was supposed to protect.

 _NO!_

His eyes were drifting shut, he was too weak to do anything and he. Had. _Failed._

* * *

Swimming in and out of consciousness, he felt himself be picked up and carried somewhere.

 _'How am I ever going to fix this?'_

His mind was being fogged over again and he just wanted to disappear into oblivion but he kept fighting and fighting, hoping that he could do something.

A familiar voice grunting in pain and him being sent tumbling away was the surprise needed to snap his eyes open to see sensei not too far away and in his arms were-

Oh thank Kami, sensei could protect them better than him. The unnatural way his legs seemed to be bent and with blood dripping down them made him momentarily second-guess that statement.

An army of ninja seemed to be closing up on them, each with the same purpose.

He caught sensei's eyes and mouthed, as un-sloppily as he could, considering he was still half asleep.

 _"Just run, sensei."_

Regardless, he seemed to get the message, nodding once to him.

"I am sorry, Leonardo."

Then he turned his back to him and disappeared in a blur.

Up until this point, his mind was running on only adrenaline and stress. Now that his main sources of worry were safe and he still didn't have the time to really contemplate what happened to his parents and final unborn brother, his mind collapsed in relief and burnout.

 _'I'm going to be asleep for weeks for this, aren't I?'_

* * *

"Bring me every book in the castle about folklore and mythical creatures. I want them ALL."

"Yes sir," a servant bowed, leaving for the castle library.

Oroku Saki was intrigued by the strange…. green thing he had encountered in the Hamato palace. He was clearly important if Yoshi's student found it necessary to fight to retrieve and take off with him along with his original targets.

Unfortunately, he had escaped with his beloved Tang Shen's children but Saki was able to injure him enough to force him to leave this…. thing behind.

His eyes darkened when his thought of Shen and Yoshi. He had truly loved her once upon a time, whereas she thought of his marriage proposal as a political marriage. He was her best friend a long time ago, fighting by her side and advising her on politics. Instead, she chose Yoshi, the foreign handsome prince seen in fairy tales for children.

He was still driven enough to take revenge on them both for shattering his heart and, though it was unfortunate he couldn't spare her, he had found this little yokai in her care instead.

Her other children were out there and he knew that as long as that was true, there was a chance that the throne of Empress could still be seized from his daughter, Princess Oroku Karai.

The next time he faced Yoshi's children, they would die.

After all, he already had one of Shen's children, a green turtle spirit. As long as he never found out the truth, there was no need for the rest of them.

For now, the child slept and his first few waking moments would be crucial.

Knock, knock.

"Your majesty, I have found the books."

Perfect timing was absolutely necessary for every step of the plan.

* * *

"-a la laaaaaa!"

Leo awoke with a pounding headache. The high-pitched, off tune singing was killing his remains brain cells. He groaned loudly, rolling and facing away from the annoying speaker.

"Gahhhhh?"

Thanking whatever deity was up there for the merciful end of the song, he pushed himself upright and pulled open his eyes to see….

Not his bedroom. His room was white and light blue with drawings scattered across the walls and random trinkets everywhere. This one was a simple dark grey with splotches of red occasionally found across the room. A young toddler, probably around the age of his brothers was staring blankly at him.

"Oooooookay?" he said unsurely, not quite sure what to do. Seconds passed and he was getting more and more freaked out. The girl then smiled suddenly, as if she had found what she was looking for inside of him and approved of it.

He was never more grateful for someone knocking on the door in that instant.

"Princess?" a female voice called, opening the door. She couldn't have been much older than a young teen, maybe 8 or 9. He couldn't confirm it however, when a short figure stepped inside wearing a black mask that covered the lower half of her face and a piece of cloth tied around her eyes. She wore a robe with a familiar red symbol on it, it was itching at him but he couldn't remember where he saw it.

"Oh! You have finally awakened, mister spirit," she exclaimed mildly with some surprise. She quickly turned back towards the door, probably to inform the guards outside, before coming back in.

"We have been waiting for you for a very long time," she began.

"How long was I out, exactly?" he asked.

"Two months, nearly," she responded, showing no sign of annoyance at the interruption.

"Oh…." was all he could muster, mostly out of a combination of shock and horror.

"..."

"You can continue," he finally said when it was clear that the mystery girl was waiting for other questions.

"My master has kept you here ever since he found you unconscious. He will wish to speak to you soon," she finished as she strides over to pick up the toddler, "This is his daughter, Karai."

"Who are you?" he couldn't help but ask. "Where is 'here' anyway?"

"You may call me Venus," she answered curtly.

The room dove into a bit of an awkward silence as Venus insisted that her 'Master' would answer any further questions. Even when he remembered and tried to ask about what happened to the Hamato castle, his questions were deflected.

"Sooo….. Umm…." he tried, distracting Karai with his translucent fingers.

Venus leaned in suddenly to whisper softly, "Don't trust my master. He has eyes and ears across the castle. It isn't safe to talk here but I will meet you tonight to tell you everything."

Leo murmured equally as softly, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Not now, tonight. Be careful Leonardo," she shut off the conversation just before a guard entered to escort him away and before he could ask her how she knew his name.

* * *

The guard lead him to a fancy throne room in complete, professional silence. On the throne sat a figure that Leo mostly recognized from his studies.

"Consort Prince Oroku Saki of the Winter Kingdom?" he asked.

"It is King Oroku now, spirit," the guard said, now standing behind him.

"Tell me, what is your name?" Saki commanded.

Leo contemplated giving a false name before deciding against it.

"...Leonardo."

"Very well, Leonardo. I welcome you to my castle. I have been told that you have met my daughter, have you not?"

Leo held back a flinch. Karai reminded him far too much of Donatello.

"She is a very sweet girl, I'm sure she shall become a great Queen one day," he said, opting for a diplomatic route.

"Indeed. Again, welcome to my castle. For the time being, you shall be staying here so I would ask you to wear our symbol. Aside from that, I am sure you are curious about the events of the Hamato palace and its consequences."

'Finally,' he grunted impatiently, tying a band he was handed with the same red symbol with 3 red prongs that Venus wore on an arm.

"Unfortunately, we still do not fully understand what occurred as an investigation is still in place. 2 months ago, a spell placed all of the palace staff under sleep. When they awoke, they found everything in order, except for the royal Family. It is presumed that they all died, as well as their missing Commander of Knights."

The speech didn't include any new information Leo didn't already know but hearing someone say that the family were dead, including Mother and Father, struck something in his heart.

He knew sensei and his 2 baby brothers were alive but…. Mother and Father? He had saw the blood first hand, he knew that they were gone. That little Michelangelo was gone with them.

Something on his face must have made his devastation obvious because the guards inside bowed their heads and something in Saki's commanding voice softened.

"My condolences, Leonardo."

* * *

Leo was escorted back to the same room he apparently inhabited for 2 months and was given dinner, containing a strangely large amount of cucumbers, which was sent by Venus.

It was late at night now, the room was lit by candles and the moon was high in the sky.

She sat down on the bed next to him, in a simple navy-black outfit and quiet enough that Leo was comfortable enough to ask her:

"So, what was with the whole 'Don't trust Oroku' thin- wha? _Hey_!"

Venus ripped the armband off of him.

"Keep it down. Saki is dangerous and far more than he seems. He's been grasping at power for years," she hissed.

"He knows that the royal princes are still alive, he wants to get rid of them to put Karai on the throne. I can't let him do that and I can't let him get to you."

Leo's eyes narrowed into furious white and his grip on the blanket tightened. Not if he had anything to say about that.

"How do you know all of this? And why tell me?" he asked suspiciously.

"Saki isn't the only one with ears around the castle. Besides, Commander Splinter contacted me a while back. It's a long story but… I owe him my life. I don't suppose you've heard of the De Milo clan?"

The family of spiritual wanderers? But…. "You were all wiped out in the last-"

She laughed darkly. "Not all of us. I was the youngest survivor so Saki recruited me into his little personal ninja Foot army, thinking I would forget about his attack on us. Jokes on him, I suppose."

Leo pat her shoulder, half freaked out by the sudden change in mood and half trying to be comforting.

"Now come on, let's get you out of here," she said, back to a neutral face and standing up.

"What? Now?" he asked, bewildered as she approached an innocent, blank portion of the carpet.

"Of course now, it's the perfect time. We have several hours until sunrise, plenty of time to escape. Come on," she urged, pulling up the carpet to reveal a wooden floor. She pulled on a loose bit to open up a dark staircase.

* * *

Leo felt insane following an even more insane girl down strange tunnels in who knows where by now. She had taken a detour a couple hours ago to collect huge bags filled with stuff Leo didn't even want to know about and now they were walking in the light of a candle on their way to…..

"Venus? Where are we going again?"

"Out."

"Out where?"

"Out."

* * *

 **AN** : I'm sorry, I really liked the whole 'hidden tunnels' thing in The Servant story and I had to include if.

So, just a little tidbit of information, the cucumber comment is a reference to the mythical creature Kappa, who love cucumbers and look kinda similar to Leo.

 **tmntlover2013** and **your fan** : Thank you so much for your kind words! I wanted to procrastinate and upload it next week but I stayed up to 5am typing half of this instead :D. Completely not regretting it!

The next chapter I'm still debating on what to do but I will hopefully get it out for next week.

Thank you for reading up to this so far. Up next, perspectives from people not Leo and more time skips!


	4. Moving Forward: 2

"Zzzzzzzzz…"

Venus looked back to see her charge nearly asleep standing up, leaning against one of the walls. He was softly snoring and had lagged back far enough that he was nearly out of the range of the candle.

She wouldn't have normally been worried because most tunnels didn't have many active traps or any secondary tunnels leading to other places.

 _Click._

Apparently not this one though. She dropped her luggage and leaped back in top ninja speed to save the little guy from falling through what turned out to be a door leading to a pit of spikes.

 _Phew._

"Eh? Sorry Venus, I fell asleep again, didn't I?" he said as she carried him back to all of their stuff.

Leonardo looked like a guilty, kicked puppy the entire way, even after she put him down to gather everything.

She sighed, picking him back up and placing him on her shoulders, letting him sit on her backpack and rest against her head.

"Woah! …...Um….Venus?...Vee?"

She twitched at the sudden nickname. "You can rest if you want. We still have a long way to go. I'll wake up you when we get there."

It was relatively silent for a few minutes as they took twists and turns that she had memorized a long time ago.

 _Fidget, fidget._

Venus learned very quickly that Leo had a guilt complex the size of a continent, even for something as simple as letting himself be carried by someone older and stronger than him.

"But…. What about you?" he asked eventually.

"What about me?"

"Won't you get tired? I mean, you're carrying a big bag and a backpack and the candle and me. Should I get off?"

She wouldn't tell the kid this but she, too, felt like nodding off in the quietness and the warm glow of a candle flame. But to get tired from stuff as light as this?

"I've done worse Leonardo, I'll be fine."

She could practically see that he was completely unconvinced.

"Look, if I get tired, we'll stop and take a nap, alright?"

He was reluctantly placated by the deal and his breaths soon evened out into a restful sleep.

He woke up several times throughout the journey but never noticed when Venus didn't have the heart to wake him up at the end, settling down next to him for a long over-due rest.

* * *

 _Leo crept into the nursery, taking every precaution to stay quiet._

 _"Good morning, Raphie, Donnie," he whispered, smiling gently at the two sleeping brothers tangled in their blankets of red and purple.._

 _The maids were perplexed as to why they refused to sleep unless they were together, chalking it up to simple brotherly attachment. Leo knew better, however. Something inside drew them together and it never felt right without them._

 _He constantly worried and could never keep them out of his mind whenever they were out of his sight too long._

 _He knew it was a stupid theory, but he liked to believe that his brothers felt the same. He would grow a smile as wide as the sun and his heart would flutter whenever he heard about a tantrum the 2 troublemakers threw while he was gone._

 _He loved watching Donnie crawl around. After his initial heart attack and a few hours to cool down after his lecture consisting of something along the lines of:_

 _'No, bad Don. That's **very dangerous** and **yes** fire is bad and **no** you can't hold Raph's toys over it just because you wanted to know what would happen and **yes** things burn and **yes** it's pretty but **no** you can't keep doing it'_

 _Donnie would only ever tip his head cutely to one side in confusion whenever he started ranting- I mean telling him off. Donnie obviously didn't understand what was going on but he would patiently wait out the storm of words and then reach over to pat his arm in a comforting manner._

 _Later, he would secretly admit to himself in private that he adored Donnie's curiosity and the bright spark of light in his eyes when he discovered how something worked._

 _You just couldn't be mad at him when he tried so, so hard and would look **so proud** about something and when he turned to you and presented whatever caught his interest, Leo just melted into a puddle of turtle mush on the ground._

* * *

Venus woke up long before Leonardo had, deciding to try meditate on the events of the night before.

 _"Venus."_

 _A male voice rang clear in her mind. Inside her foggy mindscape, she turned to see a translucent figure._

 _"Commander, it is good to hear from you again." She couldn't help the hint of pride that leaked into her next words._

 _"I have Leonardo and we have escaped King Saki."_

 _"That is a relief. Do be careful not to let him be seen. I need you to …-...?-..."_

 _His voice distorted strangely, words mixed together and it was impossible understand what he was saying. His figure faded and solidified randomly, like static._

 _What? "Commander? Are you alright?"_

 _The only explanation was that something was disrupting their communications line. Maybe he just lost focus?_

 _"... I can't stay here long, I must leave immediately. I have hidden…..?-... Autumn and ?...-... Summer -..."_

 _Red was beginning to fill her vision._

 _Mental communication meant reaching out and connecting to the other person. Because of this, I was possible to figure out their current state._

 _Red only ever meant injury or…._

 _The line connecting them snapped._

* * *

Venus's eyes snapped open. Leonardo was wide awake and midway through shaking her arm.

"Venus?"

"Sorry, little Leonardo. I'm just… Trying to figure out our next moves."

Understatement of the year, right there. She was panicking internally like she was just set on fire.

First thing was to get the spirit to safety. She had originally planned to carry him to wherever the commander needed, but that idea was solidly out now.

What was she supposed to do?

"...Vee?"

Oh, what was the point in worrying. She moved to stand up, dusting herself off.

"Let's go. We need to get to the next town. We can figure out where to go from there."

 _Growllllll….._

Leo flushed brightly.

She sat back down, pulling open one of her bags.

"But I suppose eating is a good start too."

* * *

Leo stared at the back of his friend. She was walking tensely and seemed so tired ever since she woke up. Well, it wasn't too noticeable back in the tunnels but now that they were out in the bright winter sun, the dark rings stood out against her pale skin.

He had insisted on walking on his own two legs and now they were distancing themselves from the hidden passage exit in the mountains now overlooking them.

It was too quiet and awfully awkward, at least from his perspective. He concentrated on trying not to fidget and any attempts at a conversation died quickly.

It continued on for several minutes, the slowest minutes he ever experienced, as the trudged on top of a light layer of pure white snow.

As they walked, the snow grew thinner and thinner until they reached a thin, invisible line where there was just… nothing. No snow, vegetation, nothing. On the other side was an area of green trees, starting sparsely near the line and growing steadily larger and denser the further away it was.

"Woah! Is that…? I heard that it looks amazing but…. wow," he breathed, turning his head from side to side to see the line continue for as far he he could see, giving the illusion of it being infinite.

He caught a look at Venus with her lips tipped up slightly in a tired smile at his awed face.

"The border between Winter and Summer. Looks almost mystical, doesn't it?" she said tersely. "Let's continue, we're almost at the main road of Light that leads to the Capital. It should pass through a few small villages we can stay at."

He was nearly skipping forwards in a sudden burst of energy.

"Come on! I've never seen any towns before but I've been told that they are supposed to be really cozy and lively! I've also heard that festivals are held a lot in the Summer kingdom, right?" he exclaimed excitedly.

Parties were thrown in the palace a lot for special occasions, like his birthday, but being that the palace was built on a special, tiny bit of neutral piece of land that didn't belong to any kingdom and that the only residents allowed to live in that bit of land were the Royal family and their palace staff, it meant that there were no towns around or in the area and no cultures with special festivals to throw.

Leo lived fine with it, but he always did want to see what they were like, especially when Mother or Father (usually both) were called away and brought back trinkets and paintings for him.

He pulled Venus' hand in his haste. He didn't see much, or any actually, of the outside world. This was going to be fun!

He missed Venus' wide eyes as she was pulled forward, the genuine softness that melted into her face and the loosening and lightness on her shoulders. "Just wait until you see them. The capital's are spectacular."

She only saw a few when she was still little, but they were precious memories of her Master from back in the easy days of traveling around with their clan.

* * *

They had walked straight until they hit a river that they followed down to the outskirts of a bustling village by nightfall. It wasn't too big, nothing compared to the towns at major trading points, but there were enough people that small shops were everywhere and there was a sense of friendship among them, both the adults and all of the children running around and playing on the streets.

Leo wanted to just reach out and touch the warm atmosphere.

Venus wasn't too far behind him, frowning suspiciously.

"I don't have a good feeling about this…"

"I'll be careful Vee, the town is full of civilians. No one can see me anyway," Leo said, turning around to face her confidently.

Reluctantly, she agreed to allowing him to go exploring in the morning.

"Now be quiet. It will look strange if I start talking to mid-air."

It only took a few minutes of walking around to find a small, nondescript inn.

Leo stayed silent, trailing behind her obediently but looking around nonetheless. Venus calmed down a little but was still on edge, looking around for different reasons.

A quick flip of a few coins granted them a room with dual beds and a few strange looks.

The door was shut quickly and she released a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"I'm exhausted," she proclaimed, flopping onto a bed. "We can't spend too long here. You get 1 hour and no more tomorrow."

Leo dove into the other bed, not very tired but willing to catch some sleep.

The lights were turned out and the curtains were drawn close.

It was nearly the dead of night when their door was kicked open by a tough-looking group of bandits. They managed to grab Venus before she swung them into the ground, knocking out some teeth and blood.

It was loud enough to attract an hulking man twice their size, swaggering into the room. He sported a red dragon tattoo running up and down his arms.

His interest was piqued when he caught sight of Leo. "What's an ugly thing like that hanging 'round here for?"

"Well, no matter. Just throw them in with the rest," he announced, getting bored, turning around to stalk out and swinging an arm up to signal a flood of his minions to enter.

Venus disappeared in a blur the moment his back was turned, appearing behind him and bringing her arm back in a punch.

The man immediately faced back and caught her neck in a choke hold, lifting her in the air. "Feisty one, aren't you? Shame too, that I gotta ruin that pretty face," he said as she struggled, flinging her effortlessly away in the direction of a wall. He carelessly turned away.

"NO!"

Leo leapt and nearly tripped, trying to catch her before she smacked into a wall.

'Too far….' he thought.

Everything from there was a blur. Looking back later, he would remember the world in a tunnel vision, racing and colliding into his target. He was sinking away into a new body and his vision faded into a new perspective.

He could remember slamming into something hard and solid. He could remember pain that he shouldn't have felt flaring up in soft skin that shouldn't have belonged to him.

He definitely remembered the screaming in a pitch he couldn't use.

* * *

 _'Argh, where am I?'_

Mist was everywhere. What happened?

Floating in front of him was…..?

 _"VENUS!"_

Her eyes were shut, but she was rousing from his shout.

 _"Wha? L...Leonardo?"_

 _"Wait, Leonardo? What are you doing here?"_

Suddenly, she was wide awake and panicking.

 _"Here? Where is here anyway?"_

 _"My mind! This is my mind! How are you here?"_

She was on a full-blown hysteric panic, mumbling strangely.

 _"Can't be…. I never learned how to…. But mother could…. It wouldn't be too strange….. Not for a clan of psychics… Not for spirit mediums..."_

 _"What? What's going on Vee?"_

 _"How is this happening! If I channeled a spirit into my body, I could discharge him, right?! How do I even begin to do that?"_

Her high-pitched, very stressed voice was transferring emotions and even though he didn't understand what was going on, he still joined into her stress anyway.

If a spirit medium meant what he thought it meant, it wasn't good at all.

It meant that he just stole and was now occupying her body.

 _'This won't be awkward at all…'_

* * *

Dredging up what little memory of childhood lessons she had learned, Venus started funneling information to Leo to avoid a complete breakdown by focusing on something else.

 _"I won't be able to talk to you while you are awake and in my body. Just when you meditate or sleep."_

Once she started, she didn't stop or slow down at all. She just left a flood of words for Leo to try and remember.

"Spirits leave imprints on the medium, so that means that while you are there, some changes while happen to the body, like gender change, muscle changes here and there and some other stuff. Height won't change and neither will hair or clothes."

"Wait, what was that about-"

"You will not be able to use the body's spirit energy or any of the abilities I have as a De Milo. You will be responsible for the health of the body but of course, if the body dies, you will not."

"But hang on, could I use my spiri-"

Leo eventually gave up trying to talk and let Venus churn out line after line about random stuff she knew.

 _"You will still be able to feel the body's pain and such. This is essentially your body from now on. Any questions? Because I don't know the answers," she finally finished._

He tried to pay attention to all of it, he really did. There was a more pressing question ahead.

 _"So, now what?"_

She smiled wryly.

 _"What else can we do? We probably got kidnapped. What's the natural answer to that?"_

Escape.

* * *

 **AN** : Sorry that this was so late! I just ran out of inspiration about a quarter of the way through. I have a rough plan of the events I want to happen and I was struggling with trying to work the Venus-spirit-medium thing into the story. I hope it works out!

I probably won't be able to keep up a regular schedule at this rate, so I'm going to throw it out and just do what I can. I've put up a progress tracker on my profile so you can check how much of the next chapter I've finished. I'm going to be quite busy until the 2nd week of May and with important exams in June, I'm not sure how much I can write. I want to write a second fic on top of this, so the little time I have might have to get split. Sorry if this is the case.

What do you think of Venus? Looks like I lied about the time skip, it'll happen in the next chapter or the one after. Reviews will feed my motivation!

 **tmntlover2013:** Thank you for your review! You were the reason I managed to finally sit down and finish this chapter today. Sorry I took so long :(.


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